The Artists of Data Science

We have a surprise visit from friend of the podcast, Srivatsan Srinivasan! Lot's of awesome topics covered in this office hour session! Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Cloud Academy! Go to https://cloudacademy.com/ and use the coupon code ARTIST for 50% off the monthly subscription fee for life! Check it out and don't forget to register for future office hours: http://bit.ly/adsoh If you want to interact with me multiple times a week, join Data Science Dream Job for 70% off: http://dsdj.co/artists70 Watch the episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx-pFw_ty92wJoWzoO7WlfaM7iYB8_qjm We were voted one of the top ten data science podcasts by FeedSpot - check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/data_science_podcasts/ Checkout Nicole's article shouting out the show: https://towardsdatascience.com/supercharge-data-science-3da3ccf103-13da3ccf103 NOTES [00:01:57] Use your Excel skills to learn python [00:04:35] Automating stuff you do in Excel with python [00:06:49] Srivatsan shares tips on complementing your Excel skills with python [00:08:38] Some resources recommendations for learning python [00:10:34] How to find out what niche in data science to pursue [00:15:17] The main problem with graduate level education in data science [00:15:33] How the real world is different from Kaggle [00:17:27] How to broaden your skillset [00:19:47] Ideas for a data engineering project [00:21:56] What are people looking for in interviews? [00:24:50] Talking about portfolio projects in interviews [00:27:23] Think about the question behind the question in an interview [00:34:13] How Srivatsan comes up with new topics for his YouTube channel [00:36:08] The importance of understanding the basics [00:38:10] We talk about SQL [00:42:37] Real world experience beyond the workplace [00:44:47] Common SQL questions in an interview [00:49:57] Don’t undersell yourself in an interview [00:50:21] Storytelling in data science [00:57:37] Is a Masters programs in data analytics, data science and/or computer science valuable? [01:00:21] Finding datasets for projectsSpecial Guests: Nicole Janeway Bills and Srivatsan Srinivasan.

Annie Duke is a is a poker champion turned author, consultant, and corporate speaker whose here to teach us how to get comfortable with uncertainty and make better decisions. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN We go deep into Annie's books: Thinking in Bets and How to Decide. By the end of this episode you'll have a set of tools to help you in your decision making process. And you'll also get some insight into why the election doesn't go the way you thought it would! FIND ANNIE ONLINE Website: https://www.annieduke.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/annieduke LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-duke-30ab2b5/ QUOTES [12:25] "Betting is basically saying I have some set of limited resources that I can invest in to and I'm choosing among options where how that option turns out is not deterministic. It's probabilistic." [15:09] "...And whichever one you choose is just a prediction of which one's more likely to produce a happier version of you in the future." [16:25] "We're living in a probabilistic world, meaning that there are very few decisions that you can make that are guaranteed to have one single outcome." [20:14] "But presidential campaigns actually happen over quite a long period of time...Can you think of anything? Where in real time, people are analyzing the decisions that are being made more than a national presidential election." [26:10] "Our brains really like to make a create a narrative that makes sense where one thing leads to another and kind of an orderly fashion. We really aren't comfortable with randomness." [28:19] "So luck is intervening between the decisions that you make, the option that you choose, and the particular outcome that you happen to observe." [32:43] "I also don't know a lot of stuff. The way to solve for that is to go explore the universe of stuff that I don't know, and to explore that in a really objective way. Where I'm kind of like maximizing my ability to run into information that is different than the things that I believe to be true,." [39:40] "Well, smart people are just better at spinning narratives. They're better at looking at a set of data and interpreting that data to fit the model that they already have. That's just why it's just like this kind of narrative spinning that's kind of going on in our heads." [01:01:58] "It's not that imagining failure causes failure. It's that imagining failure causes success, because if you imagine failure, you can see all the obstacles that might be lying in your path and then you can actually do something about them before you run into the obstacle" SHOW NOTES [00:01:32] Guest introduction [00:03:00] How Annie became the “Duchess of Poker” [00:04:09] What Annie’s hometown was like [00:07:44] What high school was like for Annie [00:09:59] How Annie’s experiences led to writing her books [00:12:07] What are bets, what are decisions and what's the relationship between them? [00:16:06] The perils of “resulting” [00:17:45] Why you shouldn’t equate decision quality with outcome quality [00:20:14] Decisions and elections [00:24:19] Why our brains are not built for rationality [00:26:10] Why our brains need narrative [00:30:50] Your beliefs have two major weaknesses [00:35:48] Why being smarter makes you more susceptible to motivated reasoning [00:40:48] The decision multiverse [00:44:29] Your good outcomes aren’t always a result of good decision making [00:48:10] How Thinking in Bets changed my life and a case study of Bayesian psychology in the job search process [00:53:42] Dealing with things that are not in your control [00:55:46] The pre-mortem [00:59:01] The power of negative visualization [01:03:36] The influence of Stoic philosophy on Annie’s work [01:04:02] A dude in a basement has a hypothesis… [01:04:29] Positive thinking and the Reticular Activating System [01:08:07] The Alliance for Decision Education. [01:09:56] We’re not teaching kids the things they really need to know [01:14:41] It’s one hundred years in the future - what do you want to be remembered for? [01:15:01] The random roundSpecial Guest: Annie Duke.

Machine Learning legend Vin Vashishta swings by office hour to chat! Tonnes of awesome insight into what the future of data science is going to look like, why feature engineering can be dangerous, why a model is a hypothesis, and more! Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Cloud Academy! Go to https://cloudacademy.com/ and use the coupon code ARTIST for 50% off the monthly subscription fee for life! [00:03:54] What I do as a mentor at DSDJ [00:10:56] Vin’s perspective on the data science job market due to COVID [00:14:09] Is data science going out of fashion? [00:16:55] The two types of data scientists out there, one of them won’t survive [00:21:50] You know, it's funny. It's got to be monitoring and production notes and stuff. [00:23:25] Question on a project that an attendee was working on – clustering and topic modeling [00:27:27] Saving models (to serve later) [00:32:02] Is analytics data science? [00:35:13] A philosophy less on feature engineering. [00:40:45] Old school data mining and feature engineering [00:46:02] You must validate your model [00:55:15] Why is a model a hypothesis [00:59:08] The importance of experimenting [01:04:37] Is it ever OK to build a biased model? [01:08:59] Preventing bad biases [01:10:54] A philosophy of modeling [01:15:24] Do we rule out deep learning? Check it out and don't forget to register for future office hours: http://bit.ly/adsoh If you want to interact with me multiple times a week, join Data Science Dream Job for 70% off: http://dsdj.co/artists70 Watch the episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx-pFw_ty92wJoWzoO7WlfaM7iYB8_qjm We were voted one of the top ten data science podcasts by FeedSpot - check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/data_science_podcasts/ I was on the Human Prosperity podcast, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbD3aV2TfKkSpecial Guest: Vin Vashishta.

Sean Derrig is NOT an eco-warrior, he’s a scientist. And he’s on a mission. He’s also the author of a wildly entertaining and informative blog called Rectofossal Ambiguity - where he takes on the alter ego RectoFossa, a grumpy microbiologist who thinks writing this blog might be an antidote to all The Stupid on the internet. Recto Fossa is latin for arsehole, apparently. Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Cloud Academy! Go to https://cloudacademy.com/ and use the coupon code ARTIST for 50% off the monthly subscription fee for life! FIND SEAN ONLINE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanderrig/ Website/Blog: https://rectofossal.com/ QUOTES [00:20:59] "So biologists, we're all obsessed with shit, basically. Especially microbiologists." [58:32] "You need to understand that your success is entirely wrapped up in how successful you can make your team. It's not about you. It's about the people you put around you and what you can do to make them truly successful. And that's what you got your success from, because the company isn't going to grow based on finding your own ego. It just it doesn't - it would be great if it did. It would be marvelous. But life life doesn't work like that." [01:00:17] "And without the ego and the drive of the lunatic at the helm, things don't happen. However, you do need somebody with their eye on the brakes and an eye on the cliff that you're hurtling towards, as well as." [01:03:56] "I'd say just keep canceling the bullshit out there. Let's get the good studies out there and make sure that people understand what they mean and what they don't. And in terms of science communication, what you need to suss out really quickly is the level you need to pitch something at" [01:05:11] "Either we can do this, which we think is quite a good idea, or we can hold our hands in a bucket of shit and give ourselves a huge round of applause. Which would you prefer to do? Well, I think I'll do the first one." [01:06:36] "One of the greatest advertising copywriters ever once said when you're writing it out, that's only 10 percent of people read beyond the first line. So you've blown 90 percent of your budget on the first sentence. Make it a fucking good one. And in that, I think sums it up, it's you need to make sure you grab their attention" [01:11:35] "I'm basically unemployable, and I haven't done too badly." [01:16:39] "You need to continually reinvent and improve yourself because there's always a superior model." [01:18:13] "There's just so much stuff out there that I don't know. I'm totally disappearing in a bubble of my own confirmation bias." [01:21:46] "If you're uncomfortable with gay marriage or opposite marriage, it's fine, you can be as uncomfortable with that as you want, just don't marry a gay person and it will never, ever, ever, ever affect you" SHOW NOTES [00:01:33] Guest Introduction [00:03:28] Sean’s journey to the dark side of microbiology [00:06:56] What's the dark side of microbiology? Sean Derrig: [00:09:18] 70 billion friendly bacteria [00:14:31] WTF is a “fatburg” [00:18:27] All the unexpected ways we’re wasting water [00:21:05] What is a radicle? [00:21:42] Debunking big pharma Sean Derrig: [00:23:36] The importance of good inclusion criteria [00:27:08] Biases in biological sciences [00:31:21] The importance of randomized trials [00:34:56] How to not bullshit yourself [00:38:34] Question everything [00:39:53] Bayes theorem and COVID testing [00:49:34] Which is worse for COVID testing: false positives or false negatives? [00:52:31] Sensitivity and specificity in COVID testing [00:53:35] Bayesian psychology [00:56:00] Tips for entrepreneurs [00:58:32] What success is all about [00:59:55] Traits of successful entrepreneurs [01:01:39] Entrepreneur in the COVID era [01:01:50] That would be kind of interesting inside. [01:04:52] How to communicate with executives in a way that will make them care [01:08:15] Sean talks about his patents [01:11:27] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story? [01:12:02] Lightning roundSpecial Guest: Sean Derrig.

Despite Max's outward success, he spent much of his life unmotivated and depressed. Struggling with bouts of frustrations, conflicts with others, relationship and career failures, he felt so unhappy he was contemplating suicide. He’s since taken on a journey of personal growth and development acquiring a brand new mindset and changing his relationship with himself, and those around him. Today he comes on the show to talk to us about data engineering and shares SEVERAL PRICELESS tips for productivity and happiness Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Cloud Academy! Go to https://cloudacademy.com/ and use the coupon code ARTIST for 50% off the monthly subscription fee for life! FIND MAX ONLINE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxzheng/ The Life Guide on GitHub: https://github.com/maxzheng/great-life-guide Double Your Happiness Guide: http://double.guide I was Max's Human Prosperity podcast, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbD3aV2TfKk WHAT YOU'LL LEARN [07:00] The difference between data engineering and software engineering [08:46] The spectrum of data engineering [11:21] Tips for people transitioning from software engineering to data engineering [12:26] How to prepare for interviews in data engineering QUOTES [43:19] "And that applies to software development or data engineering work and things like that. So when you have a data project, make sure that you are actually working on a solid foundation. Don't just build everything as fast as just writing some script and then throw it out and be done with it because you have to maintain that goal. So you copy and paste a duplicate bunch of code everywhere. And that's a wrong thing, obviously." [55:18] "And that's one way of seeing it, because when you actually really look at it, a failure is simply something you don't know for now. And then once you do go through it and figure out what you don't know, you have learned something is a lesson in disguise." [58:00] "It's really important that we understand two or three aspect of memory and how it works. And one is that memory works based on association, so it's always associated with something that you already know. And if you try to remember something without associating something you to know, it'll be very hard" [01:06:29] "So loving yourself completely is to remove any shackles from you. Believe in yourself what you can actually use to push yourself forward. So and once you have this nothing holding you back, then you can run a full throttle" SHOW NOTES [00:01:34] Guest introduction [00:02:47] How did you get to where you are today in your career? [00:05:45] How’d you get into data engineering? [00:07:01] The key difference between software engineering and Data engineering? [00:08:46] Tips for transitioning from software engineering to data engineering [00:11:21] How to get hands-on data engineering experience [00:12:11] Tips for the job search process [00:15:38] How and why Max grew his LinkedIn network so quickly [00:17:16] How Max defeated his old self and emerged a stronger, better person [00:22:21] Depression hidden in plain sight [00:23:18] How Max started his new mission in life [00:29:36] The difference between being right and doing right [00:31:02] Four steps to being happy [00:33:50] The happiness framework [00:35:21] Nurture your drive [00:38:14] A framework for being more productive [00:46:08] Max helps me with my battle against distraction [00:50:02] What to do when you lose momentum and motivation [00:52:14] How to fight imposter syndrome [00:57:00] Choose your belief system [00:57:51] Tips to increase your memory [01:01:46] The importance of a growth mindset [01:05:58] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story? [01:06:45] Lightning roundSpecial Guest: Max Zheng.

Another awesome episode this week! Our friends Ashen, Navya, and Haseeb come back for some really insightful questions. We talk about whether you really need math skills in data science, how to answer the "what's your salary expectations" questions, a resume review, some ideas for data science projects, and our friends turn the tables and interview me...again! I really enjoyed this weeks session - tune in and let me know what you think: theartistsofdatascience@gmail.com. By the way you can email me anytime with any question and I promise I will respond! Huge thanks to our sponsor for this episode - Cloud Academy! Go to https://cloudacademy.com/ and use the coupon code ARTIST for 50% off the monthly subscription fee for life! If you want to interact with me multiple times a week, join Data Science Dream Job for 70% off: http://dsdj.co/artists70 Watch the episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx-pFw_ty92wJoWzoO7WlfaM7iYB8_qjm We were voted one of the top ten data science podcasts by FeedSpot - check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/data_science_podcasts/ I was on the Human Prosperity podcast, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbD3aV2TfKk Check it out and don't forget to register for future office hours: http://bit.ly/adsoh

Carl is a former Wall Street Quant turned data scientist who is leading the battle against churn, using data as his weapon. A data scientist, he uses a variety of tools and techniques to analyze data around online systems, and his expertise has led to the creation of the Subscription Economy Index. Currently, he’s the Chief Data Scientist at Zuora - a comprehensive subscription management platform and newly public Silicon Valley “unicorn” with more than 1,000 customers worldwide. FIND CARL ONLINE Website: https://fightchurnwithdata.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlgold/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/carl24k GitHub: https://github.com/carl24k WHAT YOU'LL LEARN [00:16:01] What is churn? [00:21:48] Metrics for understanding churn [00:24:01] Feature engineering for churn [00:27:22] Why ratio metrics are the best best in your battle against churn [00:33:09] Dealing with outliers [00:39:34] More feature engineering tips QUOTES [09:06] "When I started out, of course, people thought machine learning was trash...No one was that interested in machine learning back in the early 2000s. It wasn't until after Google essentially had showed how much they could do with machine learning in a production environment with big data." [12:22] "It should enable better decisions, too. Not just faster decisions by getting the right data to the right people and giving them the right tools. We really should see companies making more optimal decisions." [13:30] "There should be like a Hippocratic Oath for Data scientists, which means that goes beyond just you don't want to make mistakes. It means that you shouldn't be working on those, you know, on those dangerous applications. " [22:04] "the features that you choose in my mind are really the main part of solving any data science problem and not the algorithm. I show actually in my book that if you do a good job on your feature engineering, the algorithm that you choose is not that important for your accuracy. So feature engineering always has number one importance in Data science" SHOW NOTES [00:01:31] Introduction for our guest [00:02:54] Carl’s path into data science [00:04:30] The fascination with churn [00:08:04] How much more hyped do you think the field has become since you first broke into it? [00:09:41] Where do you see the field headed in the next two to five years? [00:11:20] What do you think would be the biggest positive impact that Data science will have on society in the next two to five years? [00:12:36] What do you think would be the scariest application of machine learning and data science in the next two to five years? [00:13:17] As practitioners of machine learning, what do you think would be some of our biggest concerns when we're out there doing our work? [00:16:01] What is Churn? Is that what we do we make butter. [00:17:27] So why is churn so hard to fight? [00:21:48] The importance of metrics in our battle against churn [00:24:01] How do we go from raw event data to metrics? [00:24:45] How do cohorts help us analyze, predict, and understand churn? [00:27:22] What are ratio metrics and why are they so powerful? [00:33:09] Why are outliers so problematic to deal with? model and get information from them, but without them ruining your numbers. [00:34:57] What are some common mistakes that you've seen Data scientists make when it comes to dealing with outliers? [00:39:14] How to be more thoughtful when it comes to feature engineering? [00:42:31] Debunking the common misconception that the choice of algorithm is the most important thing that contributes to model performance. [00:43:56] Your features don’t need to be the most creative [00:45:28] Your job isn’t over once you deploy the model [00:49:05] What are some things that we need to monitor and track - the context of churn - to make sure that our model is doing what it should be, that is performing as we've designed it? [00:50:26] How COVID is messing up everyone’s churn models [00:53:14] Is data science an art or science? [00:55:24] What are some soft skills that Data scientists are missing that are really going to help them take their careers to the next level? [00:56:51] How could a data scientist develop their business acumen and their product sense [00:57:44] What to do with these crazy job descriptions [00:59:27] What’s the one thing you want people to learn from your story? [01:00:39] The lightning roundSpecial Guest: Carl Gold, Phd.

Brenden is passionate about helping others achieve rocket level success. He lives by the philosophy that when you care about serving others and aim to add value to people’s lives, you’ll be able to overcome any fear or obstacle in your path. This philosophy has led to him coaching purpose driven entrepreneurs on how to master their message and share their ideas with the world. FIND BRENDEN ONLINE LinkedIn :https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendenkumarasamy Website: https://www.mastertalk.ca/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBYFP4mZLQovr7W6Si6sueA Twitter: https://twitter.com/masteryourtalks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/masteryourtalk/ QUOTES [00:05:00] "Everyone seems to ask themselves what they're passionate about. And I think that is a stupid question. And let me explain why." [00:07:04] "There are a lot of people who know how to crunch numbers but don't know how to explain them back to people in a way that can be philosophically transformative in people's lives." [00:08:14] "Public speaking is a skill that anyone can master, but very few people do because it's the hardest skill to hold yourself accountable to." [00:12:33] "The secret is there is no secret in the sense that if you think you're able to engage your audience from the first time you present something, you're wrong. " [00:18:29] "But if you talk to your audience and just ask yourself the simple question, what are you trying to achieve here? You're trying to help them take a first step. You're trying to get the introverted data scientist to say, hey, you have an idea to share." [00:21:27] "We're taught to believe that public speaking is a chore. Public speaking is a responsibility and obligation. " [00:32:43] "If you want to stand out in general, you need to be able to tell a story with that data. And by story, I don't mean storytelling going in all this persona's stuff. I mean structuring your ideas in a way that makes sense to a fifth grader who doesn't understand Data science." SHOW NOTES [00:01:35] Introduction for our guest today [00:02:47] How Brenden paved his own lane [00:04:36] How Brenden decided that his mission is to help people be better public speakers [00:08:04] The “Public Speaking Why” [00:09:49] How would the world change if you were an exceptional communicator? [00:10:56] What's the difference between just talking and speaking? [00:12:16] How do we present information in a way that will get our audience excited and get them excited to hear us share our ideas with them and with the world? [00:15:41] How do the best speakers in the world design presentations for maximum effect? [00:19:18] Change your mindset about public speaking [00:23:18] An exercise for improving your public speaking (I give Brenden a random word and he makes a speech on the spot). [00:27:05] How important is writing when preparing for speaking? [00:28:53] How can we become better storytellers? [00:31:15] How can we identify personas in our audience [00:33:57] How to communicate with executives [00:37:06] How to make the most of networking events [00:39:55] Tips to start becoming a better presenter, today! [00:41:28] How to move from individual contributor to leadership [00:43:58] Charity water [00:48:35] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story? [00:50:52] The lightning roundSpecial Guest: Brenden Kumarasamy.

Excellent questions this week! We do a portfolio project review, technical feedback for a project, talk about what the difference is between a data science manager and a data science project manager. The participants turn the tables on me in this one and interview me about my process, routines, and how I find people for the podcast. Join Data Science Dream Job for 70% off: http://dsdj.co/artists70 Watch the episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/1TNjun5t5O8 We were voted one of the top ten data science podcasts by FeedSpot - check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/data_science_podcasts/ I was on the Human Prosperity podcast, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbD3aV2TfKk Check it out and don't forget to register for future office hours: http://bit.ly/adsoh

Dr. Prewitt is a thought leader in innovation, education, and entrepreneurship. In addition to working as an engineer and researcher with several Fortune 500 companies and universities before starting his business, he’s also an active researcher, author, and speaker in the areas of innovation, education, and entrepreneurship. He’s given talks across the country on topics ranging from student success in STEM to how to leverage technology for business success. He’s also co-author of a book for students interested in pursuing careers in technology titled STEM Navigators. FIND ANDERSON ONLINE WEBSITE: https://www.andersondprewitt.com/ LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dradprewitt/ TWITTER: https://twitter.com/prewittsolution FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DrADPrewitt QUOTES [00:12:03] "Data can also be used to harm if it's not done the correct way...I think a very good example is something like we look at things like systemic inequalities, systemic racism, systemic sexism, all of it. We spend a lot of time talking about the sexism, the racism, the inequality. We don't spend as much time talking about the system and really about race. " [00:15:51] "I try to talk about A.I. in terms of raising a child or maybe whatever else... if you train that child up or that baby up and you teach them a wide range of things, they get experiences and you yourself have enough knowledge and actually take the time to learn the right things, teach them, then that child has a better chance of growing up and doing the right things." [00:22:17] "I think that even some basic understanding of information can be misused for how one wrong line of code or not having a full dataset can affect people in real terms in real time" [00:30:27] "If you don't know that there are multiple paths to get to something, you're only going to go down the road that you know" SHOW NOTES [00:02:05] Introduction for our guest [00:03:25] How Dr. Prewitt got into data science [00:07:56] Challenges on the path to getting a PhD [00:10:43] Where is data science headed in the next two to five years? [00:15:38] What can we do as practitioners of Data science machine learning to make sure that the work that we're doing isn't perpetuating negative biases? [00:18:43] Think holistically about what you are building [00:20:36] How can we educate ourselves on ethics? Where do we turn to for guidance on that to make sure that the work that we are doing is ethical? [00:23:35] How to take ownership of your self-education [00:26:17] Don’t torture the data until it confesses [00:27:47] STEM Navigators [00:33:02] How do systems work? [00:38:15] How to use AI for good [00:41:09] Advice to students who are interested in studying science, technology, engineering or math [00:44:13] Going back to your book, STEM Navigator's talk about curiosity and asking why not? Do you feel that was a common thread or formula to success for the navigator's that you highlighted in the book? [00:45:42] Battling imposter syndrome [00:48:24] The cookie jar [00:51:26] What can the STEM community do to foster the inclusion of people of color, especially black Americans in particular in our field? [00:54:46] What's the one thing you want people to learn from your story? [00:55:38] The lightning roundSpecial Guest: Anderson Prewitt, PhD.